Composite values of polynomial power sums (Q2292677)

Decomposability of polynomials is a very interesting and deep problem. In the present paper the authors consider decomposability of polynomial recurrence sequences. \par Let \((G_n(x))_{n=0}^{\infty}\) be a non-degenerate simple linear recurrence sequence of order \(d\ge 2\) with power sum representation \[ G_n(x)=a_1\alpha_1^n+\ldots +a_d\alpha_d^n \] with \(a_1,\ldots,a_d\in\mathbb C\), \(\alpha_1,\ldots,\alpha_d\in\mathbb C[x]\). Note that \textit{C. Fuchs} et al. [Manuscr. Math. 159, No. 3--4, 321--346 (2019; Zbl 1465.11060)] considered decomposability of binary recurrence sequences. These results are extended to arbitrary order in this work. Assume \(\deg\alpha_1 \geq \max \{\deg\alpha_2\ldots,\deg\alpha_d\}\). Let \(m\ge 2\) be an integer and let \(m_0\) be the smallest integer with \(\alpha_1^{m_0/m}\in\mathbb C[x]\). The main result of the paper says that if \(G_n(x)=g\circ h\) with \(\deg g=m,\deg h\geq 1\), then there are \(c_1,\ldots,c_l\in\mathbb C\) with \[ h(x)=c_1\gamma_1^{\ell}+\ldots + c_l\gamma_l^{\ell}, \] where \(m_0\ell=n\) and \(l\in\mathbb N\) is bounded explicitly in terms of \(m,d\) and \(\deg\alpha_1+\ldots+\deg\alpha_d\) and \(\gamma_1,\ldots\gamma_l\in\mathbb C(x)\) can be effectively given in terms of \(\alpha_1,\ldots,\alpha_d\), both independently of \(n\). \par The proof is based mainly on the ideas of \textit{U. Zannier} [Invent. Math. 174, No. 1, 127--138 (2008; Zbl 1177.12004)].